Mithradite
by Leikiz
Summary: Lillie's visit to Selene takes a turn when she discovers that Selene has made a terrible decision in her absence. [Moon/Lillie][Sickfic][Fluff and Angst]


**Urgh... I'm still not happy with how this turned out. I wanted to do something with Mithradatism, AND with hurt/comfort fluff stuff between Lillie and Moon.**

 **Tired of messing around with it.**

XXX

The Charizard descended the last dozen meters slowly, his wings splashing mud and water away from the landing zone with every beat. He touched down, sinking slightly in the mushy earth, and bent to let her get off.

Lillie landed with a _splat_ , mud splattering high enough to speckle her legs. She ignored it- boots were meant to get wet, and it wasn't like Po Town saw many dry days. She patted the Charizard's shoulder.

"Thank you. That was even faster than usual."

The ride Pokemon snorted proudly, his breath and tail steaming in the rain, and nodded to her. He waited until she moved away before taking off, kicking off from the ground and rocketing away fast enough to blow the rain aside in his path.

Lillie waved. Charizard disappeared into the cloudy afternoon sky, and she turned away, pulling her hat from her bag. The ballcap was a far cry from the wide-brimmed sunhats she'd once carried, but it kept the rain out of her face, and kept her hair from frizzing too badly. Her umbrella came out next.

Surrounded by her little canopy of dry space, Lillie made her way toward town.

The walls around Po were as imposing as ever, all industrial concrete and pylons. She remembered vaguely that it had been some kind of odd retreat for a wealthy family before Team Skull took it over, but the idea always made her uncomfortable. It felt a little too much like someone else's version of Aether Paradise. Something to shut the outside world, and _reality_ away.

She dipped her umbrella so she could fit through the gap in the wall, and entered. The rain was no weaker inside, but she breathed a little easier.

Selene didn't care if Lillie landed in town, but Lillie liked coming in this way. Despite the eeriness that still lingered around Po, there were newer, stronger associations she had for it.

It felt more like a castle, like she was slipping through a gate into some old fortress, when she remembered who lived in Po now. The walls weren't a barrier against rationality any longer, but a shield, something that made her feel safe.

The cobbled street that ran up the center of town was uneven, puddles collecting in the low spots, or covering the stones entirely in others. Lillie had to zig and zag through them, the heels of her boots splishing on every step.

She'd just passed through the first intersection when the lights came on. Purple flames bloomed in the empty lampposts, row by row, moving towards the mansion only just now coming into sight. A faint giggle trickled its way out of the gloom, and while Lillie couldn't see where it came from, she raised her free hand all the same.

"Thank you, Sortia!"

Selene's Misdreavus flickered briefly into view, just at the edge of visibility. She cackled again and disappeared.

A moment later, a chilly breeze crossed the back of Lillie's neck. She kept walking.

"Is everything alright today?"

A light tug on her left braid.

Lillie smiled. "Good. Did Selene sleep in until noon again?"

A pull on her right braid this time.

"Oh? Later than that?" Right braid. "Earlier?"

Two tugs on the left.

Lillie was just passing into the section of Po that Selene had reclaimed, but she paused at that, frowning.

"Did she sleep at all?"

Sortia's shrill laughter came from all around her.

Lillie started walking again, redoubling her pace.

If it wasn't one thing, it was another. Selene couldn't just oversleep. She alternated. There would days where Lillie would come by to find the Kahuna still in bed, buried in sheets like some kind of hibernating Ursaring. And then there was this.

'I just wanted to marathon the whole season and get it done.'

'My Hypno wanted to practice eating my dreams and see if they tasted different if I was sleep deprived.'

'Challengers should have an interesting test when they come here, so I was going to restage my invasion of Po Town with trainers playing Team Skull, and I get to be Guzma!'

For a woman who had rubbed shoulders with legendary Pokemon, wiped out two separate criminal organizations, and somehow, seen the value within a scared little blonde girl, Selene was… sort of an idiot sometimes.

The mansion loomed out of the mists, shadows flickering across its surface from Sortia's balefire. Under Selene's reign, most of the damage from Team Skull had been repaired. The windows had been replaced, the trash cleaned up, the pool refilled- currently housing a gently dozing Lapras.

In its place had come Selene's artistry. Every inch of the mansion's exterior was covered in her work. Painted landscapes warred with graffiti. Flowers and thorny vines twined through letterwork and curled around sprawling, beautiful women themselves covered in a second skin of tattoos. Symbols carpeted gables and trim- the elemental signs, star signs, icons for the legendary Pokemon.

It was overwhelming, the visual equivalent of a wall of sound. Even now, Lillie was still glimpsing new portions of the mural. She had no time for them today though, and they passed unnoticed.

She stomped up the front steps and pulled open the front door. There was a letter box nailed beside it for any challengers who came calling when Selene wasn't around.

Lillie shook out her umbrella, and then set it on the tile in the foyer to dry. "Selene! Selene, where are you?"

A clattering noise from the right, and the sound of glass breaking. "Kitchen!" Selene's voice carried over the sound. "Mind the mess."

Lillie crossed the foyer. The mansion's eastern half was largely devoted to the dining room and kitchen. The former was big enough to house a table best described in meters, and judging from the mess when Selene moved in, had fed all of Team Skull at once.

Selene rarely had any visitors besides Lillie, and the massive table had been half-rotten. She'd thrown it out and furnished the room with a vast array of comfortable chairs and beanbags, all scattered across a dozen mismatched rugs. It had become the main sleeping quarters for Selene's Pokemon, and if Selene wasn't in bed, she was usually there.

Lillie waved to Selene's Pokemon as she passed them. The only ones she really knew the names of were Selene's main team and a few of the more eccentric personalities. Mido the Minior was currently ricocheting back and forth between a Mankey and a Jangmo-o, laughing as the two fighting types whacked it like a ball.

Selene's Metagross, Bixby, was keeping watch on everyone, blinking lazily from its position in the corner. A few other psychics seemed to be congregating around it and meditating in its presence. There was a faint brush across her mind as she looked at it, and Lillie nodded in greeting to Bixby.

She had to step over a slumbering Weavile in order to get into the kitchen. The door was closed, and she could hear Selene bustling around. Judging from all the crashing and the undertone of Selene cursing, something was out of sorts.

Lillie pushed open the door and made it three steps in before she stopped, staring.

An array of tubes and beakers lined the countertops, and every burner on the stove was currently heating up a different container of viscous liquid. A number of Selene's Pokemon milled around on the floor and sat at the kitchen table, all watching their trainer.

Her girlfriend stood in the middle of a kitchen disaster.

She looked utterly dreadful.

Short, shaggy black hair normally held in some semblance of order was now pushed back- seemingly held in place by only grease and sweat. Selene's skin, caramel brown beneath her ink, was looking distinctly grayish, covered with a faint sheen of perspiration.

She lifted her head from a notebook as she noticed Lillie. "Hey, Lils," she rasped.

"Selene!" Lillie crossed the kitchen at a run, leaping over Selene's Salazzle to skid to a halt beside the other girl. "What _happened?_!"

"I'm alright."

This close, Lillie could see ruptured blood vessels in Selene's eyes, like red starbursts on white, and she was pretty sure the odd cast to Selene's voice was coming from the twin twists of tissue she had stopping up her bloody nose.

"You are not fine!" Lillie snapped. Growing up at Aether had been miserable, but she'd learned a lot about medicine. Selene's symptoms raced through her head, and she knew she should do something, but she was drawing a blank. The situation was just too surprising.

"How did this happen?" she repeated. "If you're sick, you should have called. Or- called a doctor or something!"

"I'm not sick," Selene said. A Clefairy sitting beside the sink gave a low grumble at that. Selene glared at it. "You know I'm not."

Lillie finally defaulted back to the basics and pressed a hand to Selene's forehead. It was hard to tell with her; Selene had too much Fire affinity in her heritage. She always burned a little hotter than normal, but this definitely felt like fever. The skin beneath her palm was clammy, somehow too cool and too hot at the same time.

Lillie found her bag and dug for her phone. "Right. We're going to a doctor." After a moment of dialing, she turned to the crowd of Selene's Pokemon. "You're all going to help me get her outside."

Her phone rang once, only for Selene to snatch it out of her hand.

"What are you doing?!" Lillie cried.

Selene ended the call. "Just sit down and listen. 'Ceus, you're freaking out for nothing."

Lillie held out a hand for her phone back, but Selene didn't offer it. They looked at each other for a long moment, Selene blinking drunkenly, Lillie glaring, her heart in her throat.

"Two minutes. And then I'm taking you to a doctor."

"Anyone ever tell you you're cute when you're- _urp_." Selene's words cut off in a gulp. She covered her mouth, eyes wide. Lillie skittered away, but thankfully, Selene shook her head and relaxed.

"False alarm." Her thumbs-up was the least convincing Lillie had ever seen.

"One minute," Lillie grumbled. "This isn't a game, Selene."

"I know. It's science." Selene reached out and rubbed the Clefairy. "Thanks to Clementine here, and my other friends-" She waved at the Pokemon around her.

Lillie gave them her full attention for the first time.

Cinder, Selene's Salazzle was curled up, tail flicking idly as she watched the conversation. To her left was a slimy, tentacled Pokemon that Lillie didn't recall the name of. Some kind of aquatic predator with- judging by the thick spines covering its blue flesh, poisonous barbs. Under the table, a vividly colored Ariados was working thread between its chelicerae, weaving long ropes that it looped over its back spines for later use.

There were others, some of Selene's regular team, but those three and the Clefairy were the closest at the moment.

Lillie squinted. Selene wouldn't possibly…

"Are you poisoned?!"

Selene touched thumb and index together. "Bingo."

Lillie lunged for her phone. She toppled into Selene and they both knocked into the kitchen table, scattering Pokemon left and right. She'd been expecting Selene to struggle, but the other girl let her have the phone, and after a moment to right herself from where she'd pressed Selene down, Lillie retreated.

She started dialing again. Not a doctor this time, but the nearest hospital. It would be in Malie City, and that wasn't close enough. The flight wouldn't be nearly quick enough. They'd have to ride together, so she could make sure Selene didn't fall off. And-

"How did this happen?"

Selene jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the rows of science equipment. "I'm trying to build up an immunity so I can train Poison types better."

Lillie stopped dialing to stare at her.

"Don't give me that look," Selene said. "It's perfectly safe. I take a sample from one of the Pokemon, dilute it with Antidote and a couple other chemicals, and then inject it. I give myself an hour to start feeling it, and then I have Clemmy use Aromatherapy to cure it. Rinse and repeat. I did Ariados last night. That's why he's just sitting around."

Lillie stared some more. The inner workings of her mind ground to a halt. She understood. She didn't understand.

"You're… trying to build up… an immunity," she said slowly.

"Yup. I've got Poison Affinity from my Dad's side, apparently, and I always wanted to specialize in them. Just never got the chance, you know?"

Selene grinned. One eyelid was more open than the other, and she was swaying on her feet.

"And you thought it would be a good idea to do this alone, in the middle of nowhere, with no medical staff on hand, without telling anyone?"

"Well… when you say it like," Selene said, her grin thinning slightly. "Sounds kinda crazy."

The last piece of the puzzle fell into place.

"Selene, when was the last time you took your medication?"

"This morning."

"You mean when you got up?"

"Nope. That's when I normally take it. But I haven't slept in a couple days, so I just decided to take it at 9am every morning."

Lillie frowned. That didn't make sense. Selene wasn't behaving rationally. She was normally energetic and creative, and prone to stupid ideas, but… this was downright bizarre and self-destructive. It wasn't like her at all. This was how she behaved when she missed a dose.

She glanced around the kitchen, taking in the mess of equipment. Where had Selene even gotten this stuff? Team Skull hadn't been cooking meth or something, had they? Her eyes flicked across Clementine, now dabbling her paws in the sink.

 _Clemmy uses Aromatherapy to cure it._

"Selene, does Aromatherapy discriminate between chemicals?"

Her girlfriend cocked her head, looking confused.

"How is it supposed to know the difference between the chemicals in poison that hurt you, and the ones in your medication that keep you stable?"

She could tell the moment when it sank it.

Selene blinked slowly. And then her smile faded. Her gaze dropped. She held up her hands. They were stained, dyed a rainbow from all the chemicals she'd been fiddling with.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"I- I didn't think of that," Selene said. "It just seemed like a good idea- so I just did it. And it- it all kinda blurred together."

"I know." She reached out to gently run a hand through Selene's hair. "Do you want to go to bed? And does Clemmy need to cure you before you do?"

"Yes." Selene grimaced. "I mean- I need to sleep. It's been a while. And no. She's- I haven't had anything for a while." She shook her head like she was trying to clear it. "Ceus, Lillie, I feel so… so stupid."

"That's okay." Lillie took Selene's hand; her skin paper white against Selene's gentle brown. "Let's get you to bed."

The Champion nodded, and then began trudging toward the door.

Lillie took all the beakers off the stove and stuck them in the sink before turning it off. She did a triple check of all the appliances and containers to make sure nothing was going to catch fire or shoot poison gas.

And then she went to catch up to Selene. It wasn't hard. The other girl hadn't gone far. They linked arms, and, with Selene leaning on her, Lillie took her up to the bedroom.

Guzma's one-time throne room had become Selene's, and on occasion, Lillie's as well. It was in just as much disarray as the kitchen was, and they waded across a strata of discarded clothes and laundry to reach the bed.

"Shower." Lillie pointed to the bathroom. Arceus knew what kind of toxins were on Selene's skin.

Selene went. Lillie waited until the water started up before she began tidying. She tried to impose some kind of system of what was clean and dirty before deciding that it was all on the floor, and therefore dirty.

She was pretty sure Selene's Pokemon had been sleeping in there too, judging by the amount of poke-fur coating everything.

She wasn't nearly done when the water stopped.

Selene emerged, her hair down, a waterlogged corpse in ragged pajamas. Lillie joined her at the bed, sitting on the side while Selene slid under the sheets.

She'd expected Selene to drop off in exhaustion, but it seemed like she was still going too strong on her episode. Bright eyes settled on Lillie, and Selene's feet were kicking and twitching under the covers.

"You wanna read me a bedtime story?"

"I- I don't think I know any." She didn't. That part of her childhood had ended when her mother discovered Ultra Space.

"Oh."

"Give me a moment and I'll see I can think of something?"

Selene nodded, and Lillie got up and scurried to the bathroom. Inside, she opened her bag and withdrew a small orange bottle.

The pills were meant for her. Something to calm her down when she got stressed, when her anxiety flared like a neon star.

Lillie crushed three of them and poured the powder into a glass of water. She returned to the bedroom and handed the glass to Selene.

"It'll help you sleep."

The other girl snorted. "That's your bedtime story?"

"No." She waited until Selene drank the entire glass before continuing. "I could tell you about… ah, the story of the princess and the knight?"

"...is this story some kind of gay parable about me rescuing you, princess?"

Lillie flushed. "No." She looked away. "Do you want to tell one?"

"Sure." Selene patted the bed beside her. "Get comfy."

Lillie tugged her boots off and slid up next to her. One of Selene's arms wrapped round her shoulders and drew them together.

There was silence for a moment, Selene not looking at her.

"This isn't so much a story," she whispered. "It's just… what happened."

Lillie leaned in. Selene's skin was still damp beneath her pajamas, and she was warm. The bodywash she'd used hadn't quite removed the acrid, too-sweet smell of venom.

"I'm listening."

"The immunity thing. It wasn't just for the Affinity or so I could train Poison types. It was partly that. I- I've been doing the Kahuna thing for what- six weeks?"

"About that."

"I'm not Acerola. I like Ghost-types, but I don't have any sixth sense. Like, not even a little bit. It's not a good fit for me."

"So you wanted to change what type of Kahuna you were?"

"Sorta." Selene inhaled slowly, raggedly. Every breath whistled faintly; Lillie thought Selene's sinuses might still be closed up from the dosing. "But the real reason I did it… is because of your mother."

Lillie stiffened. She turned, but Selene wasn't looking at her again. Selene's hand was tight on her shoulder, holding her close.

"Lusamine- your mom. And… Nihilego. You said they found venom in her system during the autopsy. And when I had to catch all the Ultra Beasts for the police… they said the Nihilego could make people go crazy."

Lillie nodded, barely a jerk of her head. She knew. It had been almost a year, and she still dreamt about it sometimes. Her mother had become unrecognizable. Like she'd died, and someone with her face was still walking around, talking in her voice, but saying things she never would. That her mother finally _had_ died, back then, in that nightmare place, had been a relief. It was a sick, shameful thought, and one she'd never voiced. Never would.

"Ultra Beasts are drawn to people who have been through wormholes. Like me. Or you." Selene swallowed. Took another rasping breath. "And I thought, if that could happen to your mom, what if it happened to me?" She swallowed again, but laughed this time, high and mocking, just once. "I'm a friggin mental disaster already, just imagine what might happen if I got poisoned."

"So you were trying to build up your poison immunity so that couldn't happen," Lillie said softly, finishing the thought.

Selene didn't respond. Lillie didn't need her to.

She pressed closer, until her heart was pressed to Selene's shoulder, and then brushed her lips to Selene's cheek. "Thank you."

It was only then, when Selene relaxed, that Lillie realized that the other girl had been just as tense and stiff as she was.

Lillie let herself loosen as well. Her forehead came to rest in the crook of Selene's neck, her arms sinking down to encircle her waist.

She sighed, long and slow.

"Thank you for doing that, Selene. It's- it means a lot. But… I want you to know something, okay?"

"Yeah." Little metal rods of tension had come back into Selene's frame.

"I loved my mother, even at the end. No matter how hateful she became. Just because someone changes doesn't mean the person we love is gone."

A tentative, rainbow-dyed hand crept up, slowly coming to rest in the small of Lillie's back.

"Even if you do stupid things, like go off your meds and staying up for 3 days straight, or-"

"Try to set a world record," Selene suggested. "And end up burning down the Megamart."

Lillie giggled. "I was going to say things like that time you painted the entire front of the mansion with a mural of us to commemorate our six-month anniversary… in water-soluble paint."

Selene groaned. "Shiiittt. I forgot about that. That was really dumb."

"It was also very romantic."

Selene stiffened again, but with shock this time. Lillie peeked up, just a little.

She hadn't thought Selene could blush, but a definite red tinge had crept into her cheeks.

"Ready to sleep now?" she asked.

"I think so." Selene smiled. "Whatever you gave me… is starting to kick in. I feel like-" She yawned cavernously. "Like you hit me with Yawn, last round, and it's about to knock me flat."

"Sleep powder."

"And here I thought… I thought…" Her eyes were drooping. Lillie slowly nudged Selene down to lay flat on the mattress. "I thought I'd been poisoned enough for one day."

"Last time."

Selene didn't hear her. Her eyes were already shut, her body slowly limbering and unfolding with sleep.

Lillie gave her a moment before she slipped out of bed. She drew the curtains- not that it mattered much, Po Town was always overcast, and flicked off the bedside lamp.

Her set of pajamas were in their usual spot in the dresser.

Lillie put them on, fumbling a bit in the dark. Her sundress, after a moment's hesitation, was discarded haphazardly over the back of a chair. Folding her clothes was something reserved for a different Lillie. An old one.

A Lillie without friends, or any family in the real sense.

She joined her partner under the sheets. It took only a moment for Selene to roll over and clutch her like a Komala.

That Lillie, of the past, was a Lillie without Selene.


End file.
